Broken Driveshaft. Any ideas how it broke?

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DixieRambler

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Recently, on the way back from the beer store, my driveshaft broke. When I got in and started it up it was shaking and vibrating pretty good. I was only a few miles from my house so I decided to try and make it. Didn't make it. Got a wrecker and had it towed home. I am unsure of what would cause the driveshaft to break like it did. There were no problems prior to this. About all I recall is some vibration at about 80 mph. Thought that was coming from my bald ass tires. The universal joints appear to be fine i.e., no play, rubber looks good. The car has been shifting fine and from spinning the tires while it is up in the air, the Diff also appears to be fine. I don't hear anything that sounds like it might be broke inside of it. I have a one-piece driveshaft off a 93 on the way but would like to get a handle on what caused it before I put it in. Any ideas? Thanks, Jim.

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I think alot of the scoring in this pic was caused by the heat shield material. DSC02710.jpgDSC02711.jpg

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DSC02711.jpg
 
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I have one guess, it is probably wrong, but did the transmission seize?
 
Any deeper grooves worn into shaft in that area? If shaft was grooved that would give that area a start to "rip". Just like the perorations in toilet paper.
 
Right on the Mark said:
Any deeper grooves worn into shaft in that area? If shaft was grooved that would give that area a start to "rip". Just like the perorations in toilet paper.
Click to expand...

I don't see any deep grooves cut into it. I was thinking something got wedged up between the driveshaft and the tunnel and possibly cut a groove in it and that caused it to get weak and come apart. Thanks for the reply. Jim
 
isn't there some well-known engine or drive train deficiency with 94's? my memory fails again...valves?
 
Looks to me like those wear marks from the shield may have heated the metal, and weakened it. that's my guess.
 
Looks more like a catastrophic failure as in a seized trans (I know it wasn't) cause if it was a wearing issue there would be a straighter break. Strange as it looks like a one time overload?

When you say you started it up and it was shaking, do you mean before you put it in drive or as soon as you started rolling?
 
2002WRXSTi said:
Looks more like a catastrophic failure as in a seized trans (I know it wasn't) cause if it was a wearing issue there would be a straighter break. Strange as it looks like a one time overload?

When you say you started it up and it was shaking, do you mean before you put it in drive or as soon as you started rolling?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. It started up with no problem and was shaking pretty bad before I put it into gear. It went into gear and would roll but not much, about 20MPH. I am thinking like you that my transmission possibly seized up. But if that is the case, why would it go into gear? I checked the transmission fluid and it still looks nice and red and doesn't smell burnt. Damn, I hope it is not the transmission! Thanks again,
Jim
 
Looks like a combination of metal fatigue, scoring and balance issues. Also due to where the break is at there is a chance that something hit it like a rock or something.
 
do you have a habit of maybe not completely stopping the car before shifting from reverse to drive or vice versa?
 
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